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I have one question, my car has been in the body shop for over a week now and I am doing the 97 rear end and front end swap, as well as repairing driver quarter panel.. and I provided them with all oem parts, well apparently the rear bumper is too damaged to make it look like new, and will have to get a aftermarket one, do they have fitment issues with those? Or should I just stick to the 97 trunk with my 96 bumper? I don't want that gap I heard. I heard it's not too bad but they will have to mess around with the latches to make it flush so that there's no gap?
I have been told to go in person to see why they are saying this and see what the problem is. Kinda bummed out, cause if they have to get a aftermarket one, it will delay the time my car is in the shop.
But most important part was the front end and trunk lid with clears so I can finish the black and white look. But now with the rear bumper, should I just have them paint the old bumper I had on and go with 97 trunk with 96 bumper?
The tailight inners are indeed different. All the harnesses are the same though.
Go with the OEM 97 bumper you provided. Either pay the extra coin to have them rehabilitate it or quickly get a good OEM 97-99 rear bumper cover from the junkyard.
I don't have any experience with the aftermarket ones, but my hunch says you'll have issues and you'll either have to live with the issues or pay the body shop to correct it. That money could have just gone to fixing what you have. Personally, I'd go OEM.
Well from what I saw in person, they had to add 6 More hours of labor for the quarter panel(they called me to confirm more hours on.the quarter panel and I said yes.). Cause of how bad it was. For the rear bumper it's OEM, it's in black but it has a lot of overspray and pink paint on it, with big scratches here and there. They were saying that to replace it with a 97 bumper aftermarket.. I said no to that..
It seemed to me that when they saw the rear bumper it didn't look any difference but the trunk lid and the front bumper they could see change, this body shop has a 5 star rating and care about customers saving money and such with great quality..so what I'm seeing is that they want to do what changes the look of the car which is the trunk lid and the front end swap. I have provided them with the clear tail lights for the 97 trunk.. All parts are OEM I gave them, front bumper..headlights..grille.. Everything except the clear tail lights which are aftermarket of course
so if I were to dismiss the rear bumper and have them repaint the old 96 bumper I would get my 5hours of labor back ($200 back) but if I were to have them repair the bumper they told me it would crack overtime cause of its condition
The front bumper oem has a lot of chips and they were fine stripping the bumper down to paint it. and were fine doing the trunk lid as well. But not the rear bumper... Assuming they saw how identical it looked they wanted to scratch off the amount of work on it and rather repaint my old bumper
but I told them that they're going to play around with the latch trunk for it to fit properly. I don't know man, what should I do.. These shops fix cars with no front ends or rear ends... But the bumper I provided them looks like they want to do less work and save money. I'm being a bit nice to them but I got a bit mad cause they told me it would be done within a week and all they did was this....
There's a big difference between 95-96 and 97-99 rear bumper cover..the 97-99 style is noticeably longer and better looking IMO.
They pulled the classic bait and switch on you. I wouldn't have agreed to the extra 6 hours...after all the damage is right there in front of their faces. Saying it's more involved is bs.
LOL at cracking over time. They clearly don't know what they're doing and want to cover their ***. I've had my bumper covers filled it over 15 years ago on my camaro (which sits outside in the hot CA sun) and there is no cracking or signs of failing. You brought your car to the type of shop that typically gets insurance work claims where they can always get new OEM parts, which makes their job easier. You needed to find a shop that does custom work, they'd take care of you right.
As for timing, they tell all their customers "one week". If they told the truth, they'd have no business. Whatever a body shop tells you, multiply it by at least 3 to 4 times.
Well it sounds like when they added 6 more labor on the quarter panel they realized they screwed up and need to get back to the original estimate they told me, the rear bumper was 5 hours labor so they saw that and probably told them "tell him it's too damaged" so they can fix their mistake.. On Monday when they call I have to make my decision, should I be up front and say "no I want that bumper repaired and for it to look new" I know they can do it.. I think they just taking advantage of me being nice and want them to do less work but then again I hired these guys to do WHat I said wants to be done!
Well if they're off the car already it'll be easier for them to strip it down, sand it and paint them off the car. Was trying to be a bit easy on them but guess not
Went in person without letting them know, to make sure they're moving.. Getting closer in front of the line, told him I need the car.. Had it exactly 2 weeks now, told me it would be done in a week or a week and a half when I dropped the car off and said its going to be finished sometime soon this week.if not then next early week for sure.. little wait but just making sure he ain't putting it on the side making me wait longer.. Can't wait for the final finish.
.. That quarter panel damage bugged the hell out of me especially on beautiful sunny days when the dent would look at its worse. Personally I think that's the worst spot to have damage on the 4th gen...worse even with a bad crease like what I had..glad to have a clean white pearl 4th gen.. Gorgeous car.
Ok so i got a call from them today and said Its been painted but except the front oem bumper had to be concern, they said that the paint may not stay on due to the plastic and such being hit so many times.. It was a beige color with a lot of paint chips..no physical damage..., they were giving me options
-buy 95-96 aftermarket bumper, they cannot swap to 97 parts as insurance claims, I said NO to this right away
-paint my oem 97 front bumper I brought them and Risk of paint coming off, if it does I'm out of $300 to get it painted again.. They said the paint may or may not stick on.. There is no warranty cause of my own parts I brought, if I went aftermarket they would warranty it..
I had no options but to risk it, they are a 4.8/5 star body shop who mostly work with insurance claims, 5 years old, and said they'll do their hardest to make sure it doesn't peel off, I should of had went with a custom car shop. But again this is not Maaco paint
Should be ready sometime this week.. I'm hoping for the very best... This is such a risk
I need a little more understanding why they say the paint may not stick onto the bumper, they say it may or may not stick and may chip it's way out... The prep work they do is outstanding. High star body shop, but don't do much custom work.. The bumper is oem, I'm confused guys.
Is the paint going to stick onto it? They'll do their hardest to get it, they said its already sanded and primed down ready to paint, they do go aftermarket routes a lot, so I'm sure that makes their work easier and such, I'm confused that even though I brought them a nearly good condition bumper that is just chipped everywhere, saying the paint may not stay on? What is the study behind this? get me a little more understanding
I need a little more understanding why they say the paint may not stick onto the bumper, they say it may or may not stick and may chip it's way out... The prep work they do is outstanding. High star body shop, but don't do much custom work.. The bumper is oem, I'm confused guys.
Is the paint going to stick onto it? They'll do their hardest to get it, they said its already sanded and primed down ready to paint, they do go aftermarket routes a lot, so I'm sure that makes their work easier and such, I'm confused that even though I brought them a nearly good condition bumper that is just chipped everywhere, saying the paint may not stay on? What is the study behind this? get me a little more understanding
Sounds to me they're full of crap! If the surface is prepped properly with good primer the paint will stick...sounds to me more so that they do not want to do the custom work...as for the insurance garbage they are telling you...if insurance prevents them from putting the 97 bumper on...then why are there so many civics eclipses etc running around with body kits? I've never heard of such a thing...as a matter of fact when my gtp got smashed they came to the house cut me a check for the damage and never questioned what parts aftermarket or oem I was going to use...they only wanted to see it when it was done...sounds like a bunch of b.s. to me...just my opinion
Sigh that's what I'm thinking as well, I'm just really getting frustrated at the way I'm being treated by this high star shop that is very big and popular at my state, I'm paying a lot of money out of my pocket for this work to be done.. I'm thinking that they do not do a lot of custom work...I'm going to talk to them tomorrow.. But honestly I think they're going to do the best on the bumper.. I think they're just afraid of custom work.
Wow. They either have no confidence in their work, or they want to cut corners of having to do the necessary prep work to do it right and want to see if you'll buy off on the no warranty thing. They want the aftermarket bumper because the prep work will be minimal. But will it fit right? Who knows....
All of this should have been hashed out and in writing prior to beginning of work.
Sorry to beat a dead horse, but every time you give an update, it's more and more obvious this was the wrong shop for the job. Hope things work out for you.
ok well I went to the shop in person and had a serious conversation with them, with the manager and my estimator.. I went into detail why the "paint" may not stick, but were saying it had previous work done to it before...saying plastic has a memory of some sort..I told them alot of stuff, They do for sure have my word now...the tone, words, I used, Prep work is everything for paint..
So the deal here was, I talked to them and told them do they do much custom work and the answer was "not very much, but we can work around what can be done." I then said "I hope that for future customers who do custom work would like to know what can be done or not, without letting them know will lead to situations like me" manager said "I understand, I am going to do that for future customers who are going to do custom work.." They buy aftermarket bumpers all day long for insurance companies..so this shop i took to does insurance work alot of the times, wrong place to bring custom work to.. but can do what they can.
As the bumper goes, the manager says he has a good feeling the paint will stick as now its been fully sanded and primed down, but They're giving me lifetime warranty for all the work that was done (Repair/paint/blending) but will not warranty the front bumper.. the condition i brought it in was indeed somewhat damaged into the plastic, so either way If the bumper paint starts to fall off, I will need to do custom work on it for it to stick...Its not an issue, if it does happen, I fix it for $300, If not then great! im learning life lessons here, But I HOPE that the paint sticks...they use high quality paint..high quality stuff..so I hopeing the best, This ain't NO MAACO paint.
but im hopeing the case that will not happen, I bought the bumper from a bumper warehouse who sells OEM bumpers and say it can be sanded/primed/painted to match whatever color.
They ain't playing no more, they got my word, and will do a good job... Well Hope to see the car tomorrow..Wish me luck.
Ok got to see the car today after complaining and ranting to my estimator who lies all day long... Got the front end done, hasn't washed the car yet, put 96 outers and 97 inners on the taillight, saying the wiring harness is different, I told him I'm not going to take it like this, I want the taillights on, get the socket if u have to! The bumper looks gorgeous now, brand new.. Both of them. It'll look better when they put the emblems and light, give it a nice wash. They had to do it right to make sure the paint don't peel. They have my word now..
I wanted the grille to be pearl white but they said chrome cannot be painted? hard to believe that.. Heard of chrome removal.. for the taillights they're gonna be the clears.. But said wiring harness are different which I find unlikely to be the case, going in person again today to see how much longer it's going to be, the car is done execpt the lights, I don't mind the chrome grille cause I got chrome door handles and leather, so it fits the look either way.. But I'd prefer white grille vs the chrome.
It's not real chrome. It's just chrome plastic. These guys are a joke. They don't have the slightest clue on how to do custom work. I let that go for now and just have another shop do it that is familiar with custom work.
08-21-2015, 07:58 AM
